People's Daily learns from the State Oceanic Administration of China (SOA) that the public service support capability in marine resources conservation, development, research, and safety of maritime navigation is insufficient. Consequently, the SOA plans to reinforce the management of the protection, development and utilization in Nansha Islands and sea areas, and improve the public service capability in the South China Sea area.

Nansha Islands are far away from the mainland with intensive ship routes and rich fishery resources. Due to overfishing and ship pollutions, the number of rare biological resources is facing a sharp downturn. Moreover, lacking of infrastructure and public service capability has worsened the situation.

China is a contracting party of United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue, and the Convention on Biological Diversity. As a responsible big country, China owns the obligation to build public service facilities, and improve the work and international cooperation in research and development, island protection, ecological construction, etc.

Experts at the SOA said that in order to protect the ecological environment in Nansha Islands and nearby sea areas, in the 13th Five Year Plan (2016-2020), the SOA will put more effort into its work and improve management majorly in four aspects: enhancing the service level of Islands and seas, guaranteeing the health of ecological environment, strengthening marine observation and forecasting, and boosting ecological energy utilization. 

This article is edited and translated from 《我国将加强南沙岛礁及海域保护》，source: People's Daily, author: Yu Jianbin